Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the second leader of the USSR, taking power after Lenin's death in 1924. Under Stalin's reign the USSR was transformed into a peasant society and became a military and industrial superpower. Stalin collectivized the USSR'S farming and ruled through intimidation by sending millions of his enemies to the Soviet Gulag prison camps. While Stalin may have been a brutal leader, his tactics were successful and he led the USSR to defeating Nazi Germany on the Eastern front at the end of World War Two, setting up the stage for the Cold War began. Stalin was responsible for the Berlin Blockade in June of 1948. At the time the Soviets wanted Berlin for themselves and tried to discourage the Western Powers will by blockading all road entries into Berlin. This led to the American led Berlin airlift by the Western Powers that carried 2.3 millions of cargo into western Berlin. The blockade lasted till May 1949 and was seen widely as a massive failure for the USSR. The blockade not only gave the Soviets a cruel image to the rest of the world, but also sped up the formation of Western Germany and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Stalin remained in power till his death in 1953.
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States from 1961 to 1963 and was the youngest man ever elected president. Kennedy boldly led the United States during the height of the Cold War, even declaring to the world that the United States would put a man on the moon in 1961, eight years before it actually occurred. Kennedy led the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis in which the Soviets placed nuclear warheads in Cuba in 1962. Kennedy firmly held his ground in the face of nuclear war, and the Soviets backed down and took away the nuclear weapons. Kennedy played a major role in descaling the conflict and his efforts led to the test ban treaty of 1963 which helped slow down the arms race between the USSR and America. Kennedy featured so much promise in his presidency, but it was tragically cut short when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in November of 1963.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was the last general secretary of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Gorbachev democratized the Soviet Union through his policy of glasnost or openness which gave freedom of expression to Soviet citizens and gave the media and press more freedom in their reporting and criticism of the government. Under Gorbachev's policy of perestroika or reconstructing, the first multiple candidate elections were held and the secret ballot was introduced. Perestroika also introduced the first free market economic reforms into the Soviet economy. On the foreign front, Gorbachev withdrew troops from Afghanistan in 1988 to 1989 ending the Soviets nine year occupation of the country. Gorbachev also signed a deal in 1987 with U..S President Ronald Reagan to destroy all intermediate nuclear missiles. Gorbachev greatly contributed to the deescalation of tensions between the United States and the USSR and for his efforts to bring an end to the Cold War he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika brought an end to the Soviet Union and founded a new democratic Russian state officially known as the Russian Federation.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 rising from the ranks of an Hollywood actor to the leader of the free world. Reagan achieved the presidency as a part of the wave of New Conservatism in America in the 1980's. Reagan revitalized the stagnant U.S. economy in the 1980's through his economic strategy that came to be known as Reaganomics. Ronald Reagan believed in a foreign policy of peace through strength and increased military spending by 35% during his administration. However, Reagan was also extremely successful at deescalating tensions between America and the USSR and bringing the Cold War to an end. Reagan signaled the end of the Cold War when he boldly stood in front of the Brandenburg gate in Berlin and ordered Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Ronald Reagan is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful and influential presidents of his era, and he built the foundation for large parts of the United States current domestic and foreign policies.